Life With Jenny: Type 1 Diabetes & Pregnancy

Let's start at the beginning of this love story!

So there I was, 18 years old, working as the photo lab technician at the pharmacy. Our pharmacy franchise had recently been bought by CVS, so there were lots of big changes coming our way. The store was going to be remodeled - inside and outside, all the rebranding, it was big!

We had multiple construction crews doing various projects inside and outside of the store. One of the crews was in charge of planogramming. Planogramming is basically setting up the shelves per the plans and changing the 'face' - essentially changing the look from the old store to the CVS brand. So, the first day of construction, I was the only employee at the front of the store, I saw a man walk in and my jaw just dropped! This man was tall and handsome and I really wanted to talk to him! I watched him walk through the store, he went to the coolers, grabbed a coke and then came over to my register to pay. I was grinning like a kid in a candy store, my heart was racing and I'm pretty sure I forgot to breathe! Somehow I manage to get myself together and say hi, we chat a little bit and I am just completely smitten! I know that I definitely want to talk to him more and get to know him-just need to figure out how. So, as any 18 year old would probably do, I decide there are many reasons I need to go to the back of the store throughout the day so that I can walk past him and say hi - I needed to get chemicals for the photo lab machines, I needed to use the bathroom, I needed something from my locker...I found so many reasons - and it worked! We'd chat a little bit here and there as I'd walk by. He'd come up front throughout the day to buy snacks. It took 3 days but he finally got my phone number and asked me on a date! Shaking like a leaf and over the moon excited, I said yes to the date. That date was amazing - best date ever! That's the condensed version of how Steven and I met - I'm currently writing a book that goes into much more detail about us.

Steven and I started dating and it got serious pretty quick. I ended up getting hired on by the company he worked for and we got to travel together and work together. It was so much fun! We travelled around Florida, working and remodeling different stores. Then we went to Texas - oh my goodness, there is a super funny story I will have to share at a later time about driving to Texas and getting lost because MapQuest directions were never that great, hahaha! Anyways, about 4 or 5 months after we'd been travelling, working and living together, we found out I was pregnant!

The pregnancy was definitely a surprise! The way we found out I was pregnant was pretty funny; Steven told me I was pregnant. Yep, and I looked at him like what? no, I'm not! Well, he wouldn't stop saying it. He was sure I was pregnant. So after work that day, we bought a pregnancy test. I took the test and was literally still peeing on it and it was positive! Of course, I didn't believe it so I still set it down and waited the 3 minutes, ya know, to be sure. Yep, definitely pregnant. Like, no doubt about it. 100% pregnant. Steven and I were both surprised for sure, but excited!

The first few weeks of the pregnancy, I felt normal, like nothing had changed. About the 3rd week after the positive pregnancy test, I started to feel the 'morning' sickness but it wasn't just in the morning - it was all day. By the time I was 2 months pregnant or so, my days consisted of throwing up, eating, throwing up again, sleeping, and just repeating that cycle. It was unquestionably not fun and it made it hard to control my blood sugars. I was having a lot of lows because I couldn't keep food down. There was actually a really scary time where I went to bed one night and in the morning Steven had to leave to go to work and said when he tried to kiss me goodbye, I didn't wake up like I usually did but he thought I was just really tired. So he went to work. I didn't wake up until hours later and I was very confused. I was confused by the time - it was noon, where I was, and I didn't feel okay - I felt like my sugar was low, but felt like I could barely get out of bed. I felt scared but also knew I needed to get up and get something to bring my sugar up. I managed to get out of bed and to the kitchen. I got some juice and poured it in a glass, spilling it everywhere because my hands were shaking so badly, I also got something to eat and started feeling better after about 15-20 minutes. Once I started feeling better, the reality of what happened hit me and it really scared me. What if I hadn't woken up? Thankfully, I had a great doctor and that situation never happened again during my pregnancy.

Once I hit 5 months pregnant the vomiting stopped and I felt so much better! I actually started showing and gaining weight! I felt pregnant and not sick, it was a nice change. My blood sugars honestly stayed really good during my pregnancy. My A1C stayed at about a 6.5 throughout the entire pregnancy, which is great considering I was definitely eating more, because ya know, I was growing a human. I find it super interesting that I had such good blood sugar control during my pregnancy and struggled with it when not pregnant at times.

I know now, without a shadow of a doubt, that God got me through that pregnancy. God knew He had something great planned for me and for that baby. I know He took care of us. I didn't know Him then, but I do now, and I'm just so thankful. God does amazing things!

If you have type 1 diabetes, tell me your story! I want to hear all about you! Do you have questions for me? You can even just send me an email or message to say hi and we can chat! Let me know what you think of the blog too!

Since I have started this blog seemingly in chronological order of my life, I am going to continue that way, so in next weeks blog we will talk about delivery and life with a newborn and the crazy things my blood sugars did after having the baby!

xoxo - Jenny